Hitchin Town Football Club
Founded 1865, Reformed 1928
Hornchurch 4 Hitchin Town 0
Sunday, February 8 2004
Hornchurch inflicted their second victory over North Herts opposition in four days when they beat the Canaries in a one-sided contest at Bridge Avenue.
The Essex side, packed with expensive players, including former Hitchin striker Andy Douglas, comfortably cast Kerry Dixon's team aside with little effort. Earlier in the week, Hornchurch had beaten Stevenage in the FA Trophy.
Ironically, Douglas, who has struggled since signing for Hornchurch, opened the scoring for his new club after six minutes, racing onto a long ball and slotting past Richard Wilmot.
But the home side had to wait until just before the break to take full advantage of their superiority. In the 36th minute, they extended their lead when Bertie Brayley's high ball was volleyed into the net by the impressive John Martin. Three minutes later, Douglas crossed from the byline for Brayley to head Hornchurch's third goal.
Understandably, with a three-goal lead in the bag, Hornchurch relaxed in the second half and allowed Hitchin more of the ball. But the Canaries could not make much headway, although a header from Paul Covington struck the angle of bar and post from a Wayne Mills cross. Ryan Nicholl also had a chance to score but blasted high and wide.
Four minutes from time, Hornchurch scored their fourth, a penalty from Martin after Matt Childs had brought down Jon Keeling.
With two four-goal defeats in consecutive games, the Hitchin revival has stalled, but both Canvey and Hornchurch are amongst the most affluent sides in the league,something which Hitchin most certainly are not!
Hitchin: Wilmot,Childs,Hutton,Frater,Bone,Sozzo (Hay 45),Nicholl (Mills h/t),Duffy (McElroy 61),Bridge,Covington,Maynard
